Adorable

Jinbei Boy

My Little Swimmer

A Very Happy Boy

Precious

About Me

I'm just your basic, all-American girl from Denver, Colorado, except for now, I live half way around the world in Japan.: ) I met my husband in university in Denver. College sweethearts. We have been happily married since 1997. And have been together for way longer, about 16 years total. He's originally from Osaka, Japan. We lived for a couple of years in Honolulu Hawaii, where our beautiful first born son, Branden was born. We were sent there by the company my husband works for. He works for an airline by the way. After living in Honolulu, my husband's employer, wanted us to move to Japan. We live in Chiba, Japan. Where we just built our dream home, an import "all American" house! Which means a big GE oven, big GE dishwasher and yes, central heating and central air conditioning, yay! We also have a beautiful second son, named Noah. Since my husband works for an airline like I said, we travel a lot and I really do appreciate the flight benefits. Other then that, I just love spending time with my family and friends and enjoy back yard BBQ's.

Monday, February 20, 2017

How's everyone doing? As for me here. Pretty great. My dad's here visiting. The kids are at school, although Bran gets out today at 10:40am. 9th graders sure get off early their last few months of school as 9th graders here. I have a free 45 minutes and I figured it's the perfect time to get my blog up to date. You know how in Japan...Pringles potato chips are pretty popular. Meanwhile... Frito Lay is a popular chip brand in the USA. Calbee is a hugely popular well known brand for chips here in Japan. However they have always sold just regular normal bags of potato chips. And about 3 weeks ago, I saw these. I thought...what a fantastic idea! Calbee making a Pringles type of chip too. Perfect idea. So, I bought 2 packs, 1 for BrannyB and 1 for Noah. And after they munched them, I asked them. How did you like them? They both said they were delicious! And would be happy if I bought them again. And the price, at my local store was 78 yen a pack. And I saw them at a different store yesterday for 80 yen. So about 75 cents US.

What else...oh yes, I also made an apple crisp. I made this last week.

This was our cart pic from when....about 10-12 days ago? Around there. Noboru was with me and he bought the chocolates for me. And let's see...what's in the cart. A 2 pack of milk. A 2 pack of Pace salsa. Organic tortilla chips. Tortillas underneath the eggs. Eggs. Lean ground beef and a pack of bowls. Rice bowls.

These bowls caught my eye as soon as I entered the store. And so many Japanese women were also instantly stopped oohing and ahhing at these too. And I was oohing and ahhing right along. For one thing, the price was 1400 yen for the pack of bowls... so they were affordable. And another thing is...we all use rice bowls in Japan. And sure...every family likes to have cute ones. Some families even have their own special rice bowels for each person in the house. We in our house... don't have set bowls for set people. But we do like cute ones. And usually you can find one with a cute outside but a plain inside. Or vice versa. But to find a rice bowl with a gorgeous design outside and a gorgeous design inside too. It's just...really unusual. And very cool actually. So I jumped on my chance and picked up a pack of them.

Like it says...uniquely designed with beautiful patterns inside and out. Exactly. And the mix and match design...is so cool. And 6 is a good amount.

And dishwasher *and* microwave safe helps in the modern world.

So pretty and yes...so unique. I am just in love with our rice bowls. : )

The day before my dad got here, the kids and I watched the new movie at home...Doctor Strange.

He was a brilliant doctor. Surgeon who...needs his hands. His living is his hands. He was in a horrible car accident because he was texting and driving. And look at his hands. Totally ruined. His life of a surgeon, gone.

He heard of some healer who could help him.

She taught him many things.

She sent him to the top of a mountain to use his power to make it back. To show him...he had the power too.

He was either going to freeze to death or use magic to get back.

He used it and he got back. Phew. : ) I won't say the ending or the main parts of the story only to say. It was a really good movie. : )

This is what we bought the day we went to Loft, in Tsukuba, Ibaraki.

You know how I always say they have a sale most of the time at Gap... mostly 30% off. Well this day it was 50% off. And I love getting quality clothes and super cheap prices. We paid 1900 yen about US$18 dollars. Saving money and still getting cute clothes makes me happy. : )

I love that preppy button and the jean shorts are really nice. Noah will be wearing these this coming Summer or as soon as it gets warm enough for shorts. Maybe in late May. : )

And then my dad arrived Saturday at 3pm. He told me...I read on your blog that you were looking for the coconut Girl Scout cookies. And I was like...yeah, I was. : ) And he said, I brought you back a box! Aww. How nice! Thank you dad.

And my dad told me... that my auntie had asked him to give this to me. : )

Anyway....my dad and I just had toast and yogurts and coffee. He just jumped out of the shower. And I am about to jump in the shower now...that he is out. I just wanted to pop on real quick. Just quickly update...the regular day to day type stuff we've been doing. Yesterday afternoon all 5 of us went to Saizeriya for lunch, lol.

Noah received a post card in the mail about 2 weeks ago asking for him to attend a yochien school reunion. They never had this for Branden's years or anything. And I was talking to my friend when we went to the movies to see "The Accountant" about it. And even showed her the postcard. She also has 2 older daughters too and they never had this reunion for her children's years either. We both wished they had. : ) But...perhaps they just started it for Noah's graduation year? And the grades younger too? Oh well. The bright side is...they started this. And I think it's fantastic! A kindergarten school reunion. Hahaha. : ) It's March 29th or something. And you have to RSVP whether you will be attending or not. We did fill it back and Noah will be attending his yochien class reunion, hahaha. : ) Anyway...I think it sounds like fun. And I look forward to it.. because most 99% of Noah's classmates live in the small city nearest us. And only like 2 live in our town and 1 being Noah. So...it will be nice to catch up with our friends. : ) We can't wait. : )

Anything else to add? It snowed yesterday (Sunday), or the night before while we were sleeping. We woke up and there were about 2 inches of snow on the ground all over...everywhere. My dad was surprised. However by 11am Sunday, it was completely melted and gone. We've been having Japanese for dinner the last 2 nights my dad has been here. So, we're having tostadas tonight. : ) Anyway...I better go. Just wanted to say hi and catch up a bit with you all. : )

Surfer Boy

My Prepster

Studious and Smart

An Excellent Swimmer

About the Blog

This blog was started for everybody I care about and love back home, it sorta helps my family and friends feel more connected to me and my life. It's also a place to make new friendships, support one another, laugh our butts off at times, and just be kind to one another and hang out! So please join me, while I try living my life in Japan, all the good, the bad and yes even the embarrassing blunders that I will probably be making along the way! : )